Corona Arch

Overview

Corona Arch is located at the end of a small canyon, it resembles a sandstone halo. Eroded into a wall of Navajo sandstone, Corona arch was a staple of the nightly local news. A short clip featured a small plane flying through the arch. Although the arch is bigger than it seems, this practice is no longer permitted.

Duchess behind the Corona arch

From the parking lot, the trail ascends a short section to the railroad tracks. You can see where the rocks were blasted for the tracks. The tracks pass through a mile long tunnel in the cliff and continue northward by the Atlas Mills side. Although train traffic is scarce, freight trains still use these tracks to haul potash from the plant to markets in California.

Colorado River

Railroad tracks

Railroad and Colorado river

As you get closer to the Corona Arch there are a couple of safety cables strung up along some exposed portions of the trail, as well as series of steps cut into the slickrock and a short ladder to climb.

Short ladder	Nice trail
Cable section

High up in the Navajo Sandstone cliff is is Bowtie Arch. Also known as Pinto Arch, this arch is a good example of a pothole arch, where water first eroded a large pothole atop the sandstone cliff. Additional chemical and mechanical erosion wore through the bottom of the pothole. The result is a hole in the bottom of the pothole = our arch.

	Hole in the Bowtie Arch
Bowtie Arch from a distance	Under the Bowtie Arch

Past Bowtie Arch, the trail follows the slickrock slope to Corona Arch. The arch is sometimes referred to as Little Rainbow Bridge because of its resemblance to Rainbow Bridge on Lake Powel. From a distance the arch seems small, but the opening is 140 feet by 105 feet.

The trail ends about 100 meters past Corona arch, but if you have an adventurous spirit, you can climb up to the top of the arch and rappel down. We did not do that: #1 - I had no clue about this options, so did not bring a rope, and #2 - Duchess does not like rappels. But next time...

trail to the top of Corona Arch

Footsteps

External Links

Corona Arch hike info

Images

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